The present invention generally relates to cutting methods and equipment. More particularly, this invention relates to an apparatus equipped with a cutting device having a horizontal cutting plane, and the apparatus delivers properly oriented and stabilized food product to the cutting device to produce a sliced product of uniform thickness.
Many types of equipment are known to be used for slicing vegetables, specifically, root vegetables, and more specifically potatoes, into slices used to make potato chips. The most common machine used is the Urschel Model CC® slicer. This slicer requires the use of abrasively peeled, substantially round potatoes in order to produce the desired round chip shape with a minimum amount of scrap.
It is desired by industry leaders to produce round potato chips from alternative potato varieties having an elongated shape as well as round varieties with a minimum of scrap. This ability would give the industry several advantages including the ability to use lower-cost raw products, greater consistency in chip shape, and improved process technologies. Urschel Laboratories, Inc. has developed and marketed new technology for processing to specifications similar to these using the TranSlicer 2000® apparatus and MicroSlice® cutting wheel. However, industry leaders require additional abilities not available with existing machines, including running at 50-200 RPM without sacrificing the throughput attained in the original CC machine, reduced phase shifting when producing “crinkled” slices (chips having a corrugated shape when viewed edgewise) or “V-slices” (chips similar to crinkled but with relative sharp peaks and valleys when viewed edgewise), a reduction in tapered slices (slice thickness variation), and a reduction in scrap slices (pieces, shreds, miscuts, etc.) and other sources of product loss. In addition to the risk of jamming from foreign objects, there is also a concern for an increase in the occurrence of jamming and plugging as the potatoes are fed to the cutting wheel when attempting to produce chips from both elongated and round potato varieties. In making modifications to address the above concerns, another concern that may arise is the potential for damage to many costly components of a slicing machine as a result of small stones embedded in the food product.